I used to livein an apartment next to George from Guatemala back in the 2000's. George was a good guy. I talked to him one night about 2 hours about life back home. george had just inherited his father's farm and gave it to his sister rather than go back. I found it hard to believe until he told me about life in Guatemala.

George had 2 brothers, they were both murdered. One right outside a bank after cashing his paycheck. At night it's hell on earth. There are no streetlights and the criminals rule. Anybody who wants to live doesn't go out after sunset. If the criminals don't get you, the cops do. Both are just as ruthless and murderous.

George said he'd never go back for any reason. Not even to take posession of his family farm. So do I believe George, or some bullshit internet article? I'll take George.

I used to livein an apartment next to George from Guatemala back in the 2000's. George was a good guy. I talked to him one night about 2 hours about life back home. george had just inherited his father's farm and gave it to his sister rather than go back. I found it hard to believe until he told me about life in Guatemala.

George had 2 brothers, they were both murdered. One right outside a bank after cashing his paycheck. At night it's hell on earth. There are no streetlights and the criminals rule. Anybody who wants to live doesn't go out after sunset. If the criminals don't get you, the cops do. Both are just as ruthless and murderous.

George said he'd never go back for any reason. Not even to take posession of his family farm. So do I believe George, or some bullshit internet article? I'll take George.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 2115529

Your George is full of shit. Maybe in the ghetto it's bad, but there are plenty of places in Guatemala where it is safe and peaceful. I know from experience, not hearsay.

I used to livein an apartment next to George from Guatemala back in the 2000's. George was a good guy. I talked to him one night about 2 hours about life back home. george had just inherited his father's farm and gave it to his sister rather than go back. I found it hard to believe until he told me about life in Guatemala.

George had 2 brothers, they were both murdered. One right outside a bank after cashing his paycheck. At night it's hell on earth. There are no streetlights and the criminals rule. Anybody who wants to live doesn't go out after sunset. If the criminals don't get you, the cops do. Both are just as ruthless and murderous.

George said he'd never go back for any reason. Not even to take posession of his family farm. So do I believe George, or some bullshit internet article? I'll take George.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 2115529

PS> I talked to a guy from Argentina who was kidnapped and almost killed. His parents payed the ransom and he was let go. He does not have good things to say about Argentina. However that does not stop me from visiting the place or living there and enjoying the beautiful country.

Both the locals and the expats, and TPTB in Washington would rather keep things as they are and not have more of you moving down here. We prefer to keep this under wraps. The CIA works the terrorism angle to keep you all in fear too. However myself and many businessmen have been on the inside track for decades.

But yeah, I never really knew contentment in my life until I completely assimilated into Mexican life. A sort of happiness and contentment I have not known since childhood at best.

It is a whole different realm for the spirit for me, I am much happier here than places I have lived in the US and Europe, mostly because people here interact from the heart, which is something that can be experienced better than described. Every person, and the needs that they decide they need, is different. If you like what you see on TV you had better stay in the US.

Latin America is very regional with very different political and social situations in areas not far apart. It is not at all homogenous. The differences between the cultures is a very complex subject. I was a sociology/anthropology major in the US though, so it interests me.

And the LORD spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.

I am an evil giraffe, and I shall eat more leaves from this tree than perhaps I should, so that other giraffes may die.

I used to livein an apartment next to George from Guatemala back in the 2000's. George was a good guy. I talked to him one night about 2 hours about life back home. george had just inherited his father's farm and gave it to his sister rather than go back. I found it hard to believe until he told me about life in Guatemala.

George had 2 brothers, they were both murdered. One right outside a bank after cashing his paycheck. At night it's hell on earth. There are no streetlights and the criminals rule. Anybody who wants to live doesn't go out after sunset. If the criminals don't get you, the cops do. Both are just as ruthless and murderous.

George said he'd never go back for any reason. Not even to take posession of his family farm. So do I believe George, or some bullshit internet article? I'll take George.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 2115529

PS> I talked to a guy from Argentina who was kidnapped and almost killed. His parents payed the ransom and he was let go. He does not have good things to say about Argentina. However that does not stop me from visiting the place or living there and enjoying the beautiful country.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 30482944

Shitty things happen all over. I think what shocks us is the deapths of the brutality and corruption. I don't hear of cops robbing a guy in the street in Canada and slitting his throat for his pocket money, or tales of kidnappings for ransom. Maybe they don't happen all that often in most places in south and central america, but when they do, it's something we here can't relate to at all.

Both the locals and the expats, and TPTB in Washington would rather keep things as they are and not have more of you moving down here. We prefer to keep this under wraps. The CIA works the terrorism angle to keep you all in fear too. However myself and many businessmen have been on the inside track for decades.

But yeah, I never really knew contentment in my life until I completely assimilated into Mexican life. A sort of happiness and contentment I have not known since childhood at best.

It is a whole different realm for the spirit for me, I am much happier here than places I have lived in the US and Europe, mostly because people here interact from the heart, which is something that can be experienced better than described. Every person, and the needs that they decide they need, is different. If you like what you see on TV you had better stay in the US.

Latin America is very regional with very different political and social situations in areas not far apart. It is not at all homogenous. The differences between the cultures is a very complex subject. I was a sociology/anthropology major in the US though, so it interests me.

Quoting: ehecatl

The truth is MOST North Americans can't handle the culture shock and they will go back home.

The USA has gotten totally whack the last few decades. People keep to themselves. They stay locked up in their rooms. There's no one playing outside. Real weird.

“It is far easier to be a weakling than to be a Real Man. Were the Earth less harsh or the circumstances of life less austere, man would destroy himself before the shrine of the languid goddess. Only Real Men can with safety destroy the tangled forests and wilderness of Earth and make from them gardens, but will those who inherit the gardens be Real Men? The law decrees that they must be, or the wilderness will reclaim its own.”

I used to livein an apartment next to George from Guatemala back in the 2000's. George was a good guy. I talked to him one night about 2 hours about life back home. george had just inherited his father's farm and gave it to his sister rather than go back. I found it hard to believe until he told me about life in Guatemala.

George had 2 brothers, they were both murdered. One right outside a bank after cashing his paycheck. At night it's hell on earth. There are no streetlights and the criminals rule. Anybody who wants to live doesn't go out after sunset. If the criminals don't get you, the cops do. Both are just as ruthless and murderous.

George said he'd never go back for any reason. Not even to take posession of his family farm. So do I believe George, or some bullshit internet article? I'll take George.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 2115529

PS> I talked to a guy from Argentina who was kidnapped and almost killed. His parents payed the ransom and he was let go. He does not have good things to say about Argentina. However that does not stop me from visiting the place or living there and enjoying the beautiful country.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 30482944

Shitty things happen all over. I think what shocks us is the deapths of the brutality and corruption. I don't hear of cops robbing a guy in the street in Canada and slitting his throat for his pocket money, or tales of kidnappings for ransom. Maybe they don't happen all that often in most places in south and central america, but when they do, it's something we here can't relate to at all.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 2115529

Difference is corruption is bigger up north but his more hidden from view.

They are pumping you up with poisons in your food, water, meds, effectively killing you silently.

Down south the corruption is a few bucks here and there. It's more wide spread but not as deadly.

While it's true that happiness is a state of mind, the fact that Latin Americans are happy doesn't mean that their countries are any good, just that they conform with little.

Quoting: Manu-Koelbren

A happy country is a good country in my book.

Bankers taught you that a good country has a high per capita GDP. I wonder why?

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 30487402

No not really, if people are happy just because they're too ignorant or unconscious to actually recognize their actual undesirable circumstance then while their happiness might be real it doesn't mean their situation is actually positive.

The goal is both to achieve a societal desirable state AND being happy, and a desirable societal state is not necessarily related to financial prosperity, but to order, organization, functional organs and members and also its values and principles, morals and ethics and how well it all works in conjunction.

“It is far easier to be a weakling than to be a Real Man. Were the Earth less harsh or the circumstances of life less austere, man would destroy himself before the shrine of the languid goddess. Only Real Men can with safety destroy the tangled forests and wilderness of Earth and make from them gardens, but will those who inherit the gardens be Real Men? The law decrees that they must be, or the wilderness will reclaim its own.”